Afraid Of The Dark (My First Story)
by UnknownTitans
Summary: ONESHOT - Under that mask and cold shell of being a leader Robin really is just a scared 16 year old with just as much fear as the rest of us. Luckily for him though he has people that are willing to help him get through it. - Set straight after the episode "Haunted".


In the complete darkness of the room, Robin laid on his bed. The events of the night were hurtling around in his head like a never ending slideshow tormenting him. Flashing through scenes but then stopping on the ones that hurt him the most. Desperately trying to land hits on Slade. Yelling at his team mates for not seeing what he saw. But worst of all was what he had done to Starfire, he had grabbed her arm and screamed at her for letting Slade get past her. It was clear she was only trying to help him but in his anger, frustration and fear he had taken it out on her and he regretted it deeply.

A soft knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts.

"Robin?", and then another soft knock "are you awake?"

' _Of course she would want to talk to me. The others won't even come within 10 feet of me at the moment, but she, regardless of what I've done, is always willing to talk to me.'_

Robin climbed up off his bed and slumped over to the door, hitting the panel the door slid open, "Yeah star?"

"May I come in?...I wanted to know if you wished to do the talking about today"

With a sigh Robin stepped aside allowing Starfire entry and then sloped back over to sit on his bed.

She followed him over to the bed and quietly sat next to him. "Is there anything in the particular that you would wish to speak of?"

After a long pause of thinking what to say, he decided upon the thing that was troubling him the most "D-did I hurt you?"

"What?" Starfire was shocked that this was his main concern after all that had happened. He was covered in bruises and cuts and he looked as if he was going to pass out at any moment but yet her wellbeing was what he wanted to discuss. "I am fine Robin…"

"No…I hurt you. When I grabbed hold of your arm earlier and yelled at you. You even told me that I was hurting you" Robin said with a deep look of remorse and sadness on his face

"You were not hurting me in the physical sense…rather, the emotional sense….." she paused before continuing "It saddened me greatly when you yelled at me, because truly I only wanted to help you". Starfire's face also took on a look of sadness "I really tried to see Slade, and I really wanted to believe that he was there and that I just could not see him"

The guilt of yelling at her hit him like a brick "you always just want to help me Star..." he paused "but somehow I am always too stubborn to just let you help"

"I wish to help you because you are my friend Robin….my dearest friend. And I will always try to do the helping of you." She turned him with a comforting smile and continued "Now please, tell me what else you have been doing the thinking about"

"I can't stop thinking about how helpless I felt Star…when we have fought Slade in the past I have always been able to land a couple of hits on him but this time…this time I couldn't even get a single hit on him" he paused and stared at the floor beneath him "I felt like I was a little kid again without my training, his punches felt so real and I still can't grasp the fact that It was me throwing those punches at myself". He lifted his head to look at Starfire "when you found me in the basement I genuinely believed I was going to die, and if I hadn't realised that it was just a hallucination then I might not have made it"

Robin reached up to his face and pried away his mask, holding it in his hands "It's just….times like these remind me how much I hide behind this thing" he paused "Robin the fearless leader of Titans, but beneath it I'm really just a scared 16 year old kid that has to carry the idea of managing a team and protecting a city on his shoulders, but somehow is still scared of the dark apparently…."

Starfire wanted to interject immediately but she found that she was too focused on Robin's eyes. This was the first time she had ever seen him take his mask off and his eyes were a shade of blue she had never seen before. After a while of marvelling at the view she decided that she needed to stop staring and come up with some sort of reply. "Robin…we are all scared of something…." She gave him a small smile "we do not expect you to not be afraid of everything, because that is something that is impossible, even for heroes". She noticed Robin look back down to the mask in his hands "however Robin what you are forgetting is the saying of 'fear makes you human', I believe that is the correct saying…regardless of how afraid you were you showed bravery by fighting back despite of the fear. You are the bravest person I know and you surpass even the strongest warriors and generals of Tamaran"

He gave her an amazing smile. "You're amazing Star. Even after I upset you, you are still willing to try and make me feel better. Thank you"

She matched his smile but once again found her eyes locked onto his, realising that now she could even see how his smile was lighting up his eyes. She must have been staring for a while because Robin was looking at her with a confused look on his face.

"You okay Star? Do I have something on my face, you've been staring at me for a while" Robin asked with an even more confused look

Starfire snapped back into reality and hurriedly blurted out her response "Your eyes…you have never taken your mask off before, so I was intrigued by seeing your eyes"

"Oh. Yeah… I've worn this mask for so long that sometimes I even forget that it's even a mask and not just part of my face" he said with a small chuckle, "I normally don't feel comfortable taking it off in front of you guys, taking it off reduces me back to being just being Ri-…..well it just makes me feel like a kid again and so it rarely leaves my face"

Starfire was disappointed she didn't get to hear what Robin was originally going to say but decided that it would be best not to pressure him if he didn't want to say it. As she was contemplating what word he was originally going to say she noticed that he was lifting his mask back towards his face. She grasped his arm with one of her hands "please, you do not need to put the mask back on"

He gave a small smile to Starfire "the others would tease me to no end if I didn't wear my mask around them"

"Then could you please not wear the mask when we are alone? Your eyes are very beautiful and it is a shame that no one gets to see them"

Robin blushed profusely at the comment and turned away quickly so that Starfire would not see.

"I promise I will not do the teasing of you" she asked with a pleading look

He gave a soft chuckle and a smile "Okay Star, I'll make sure to keep my mask off when it's just you and me then"

Starfire gave him a smile brighter than the sun and embraced him in a tight hug.

Robin was surprised at first but soon wrapped his own arms around Starfire and joined in with the hug. After a while of being lost in how good it felt to hug Starfire he noticed that she was no longer hugging him back but he still hadn't let go. With an awkward chuckle he relinquished his hold on her and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry Star"

Starfire smiled brightly, "there is no need to apologise Robin, as the saying on this planet goes 'I have enough of the hugs to go around'"

Robin smiled back at her and his eyes drifted across the room to the clock beside his bed and noticed how it was already 1 am.

Starfire's gaze followed Robin's eyes over to the clock and she was surprised at how late it was "goodness we have been conversing for a long time!" She looked over to Robin who she determined seemed in a much better state and mood than he was earlier and so she decided that he would probably want his rest and so should leave. As she went to get up to head towards the door, Robin gently grasped her wrist and she turned back around to look at him with a questioning look on her face.

"Star…err…would-would you mind…errm staying with me, tonight? I still don't really feel like being alone" he gave her an apologetic smile for putting her in an awkward situation like this.

Sensing his anxiety and worry she gave him a comforting smile and nodded her head "if it will comfort you knowing someone is nearby then yes I will stay, to as they say 'keep watch'" She walked around to the other side of the bed before taking off her boots and laying down on the other half of the bed.

Robin whilst comforted, still felt he needed to explain himself to Starfire "Sorry, I know it's probably inappropriate but I've felt a lot better whilst we were talking and I don't really like the idea of going back to being alone just yet"

Starfire once again gave him a comforting smile and placed a hand on his shoulder "do not worry friend, I understand". She was happy that she was able to give some sort of comfort to Robin and to be honest the concept of sleeping next to him wasn't something she had any kind of problem with.

As they both laid on the bed, Starfire decided to seek an answer to her earlier thought. "Robin?"

"Yeah Star?"

"Earlier you said when you took off your mask you went back to being somebody but you never finished what you were going to say. May I ask what you were going to say?"

Robin had always kept his secrets secure, he was taught by the Dark Knight himself that secrets were his most valuable commodity and that no one must ever know them.

But lying next to Starfire, he decided, what was the problem with revealing a few? Especially to the person he cared about the most. "Richard… I was going to say that taking off my mask reduces me back to being Richard."

' _Richard_ ' Starfire thought to herself over and over, entranced with this new information. "Good night, Richard" She said as she rolled over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before snuggling up to him and drifting off to sleep.

Robin looked over to the sleeping girl at his side and decided that he would join her in peaceful slumber as well.

And for the explanation of why they would both be coming out of his room in the morning. Well, Robin can deal with that, Richard is quite content where he is.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

This is my first story so any feedback would be appreciated whether that be criticism or praise.

Originally Starfire only came in at the end of the story and there was a lot of Robin's thoughts leading up to that. However I felt like i was just rambling up until the scene with Starfire so I decided to cut it down to just being the first paragraph of this story.

I really do like the alternate ending/behind the scenes format for one-shots, it means that you can stick to the story and main plot whilst including things that you think would make it better.

I know some people may think that this is a little OOC for Robin but to be honest I really do think that under his mask he is just as scared as everyone else is and so fear still affects him.

I have another couple of ideas for one-shots lined up but ideas/suggestions would speed up the process immensely.

Anyway a review whether its short or long, would be great!

Thanks,

UnknownTitans


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